Day: September 6, 2017

A YouTube video on the mysterious object has gone viral, but there may be a terrestrial explanation for the ‘UFO’.

The video, posted by Julian Lopez, appears to show a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department helicopter circling around an unidentified flying object, which some observers say may be an advertisement for marijuana products.

Fox 11 reports that the object was seen floating over the San Gabriel Valley on the morning of Aug. 28.

On the video, Lopez can be heard saying: “A helicopter is circling it. It looks like a big eyeball.”

Other witnesses (as reported by the Pasadena Star News) reported seeing a large, white advertising ballon for a company known as “Brass Knuckles.” Brass Knuckles is described as “the industry leader in Super Premium CO2 extracted cannabis oil products,” according to a medical marijuana website.

In a new study out of the University of Kansas, women are more likely to marry a less-educated man and bring more money to the relationship.

“As the number of highly educated women has increased in recent decades, the chances of ‘marrying up’ have increased significantly for men and decreased for women,” the study reports.

PREGNANT WOMAN CLAIMS SHE WAS DENIED SERVICE BECAUSE OF BABY BUMP

To gather their results, the researchers examined gender-specific changes in financial return on education among people 35-44 years old. The study used U.S. census data from 1990 and 2000 and the 2009-2011 American Community Survey.

The study found that women’s personal earnings have grown faster than men’s earnings, and that women are becoming more educated than men. These “combined facts that husbands are less educated than their wives than before, and the return on earnings for men has stagnated, a husband’s contribution to family income has decreased. On the other hand, wives’ contribution to family income has substantially increased,” the University of Kansas reports.

“This could explain why it seems men don’t complain a lot about this,” lead author ChangHwan Kim, associate professor of sociology, said. “It seems fine for men because their wife is now bringing more income to the household.”

According to the findings, marriage is becoming more equal between the genders.

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“If you look at gender dynamics or from a marriage-equality standpoint, that is a really good sign,” Kim said.

However, there is one part of the family that is benefitting more than the other, Kim points out.

“When we consider family dynamics,” Kim said, “men are getting the benefit from women’s progress.”

Former national security adviser Susan Rice is meeting privately Wednesday with the House Intelligence Committee, Fox News has learned, in the latest Capitol Hill session involving an Obama administration official.

Rice was expected to face questions in closed session about Russia and the unmasking controversy. The sit-down comes after she attended a similar private session in July with staffers on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Some lawmakers have made clear they want to hear more from Obama administration officials, especially Rice, over their potential role in “unmasking” the identities of Trump associates from intelligence reports last year.

Rice has come under fire for her alleged role. Congressional investigators have issued subpoenas to the NSA, CIA and FBI seeking “unmasking” information related to three individuals: Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

Rice initially told PBS’ Judy Woodruff in March that she “knew nothing” about the unmasking of Trump associates. But weeks later on MSNBC, she admitted she sometimes sought out the identities of Trump associates who communicated with foreigners, a request known as “unmasking” in the intelligence community.

But “I leaked nothing to nobody,” Rice told MSNBC.

Power, too, has agreed to testify before the House Intelligence Committee as part of its Russia probe, Fox News has learned.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper already appeared before both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in July.

NEWARK, N.J. – New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez entered the first day of his corruption trial Wednesday on the verge of tears, as he proclaimed his innocence outside federal court in Newark.

“I appreciate my family, my son and daughter being here today and appreciate all my supporters,” he said.

Emotions ran high, but the stakes are even higher, with Menendez facing a dozen criminal charges.

It’s the first time a sitting senator has faced a federal bribery trial in 36 years – not only is his career and reputation on the line, but the trial could affect the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, where Republicans are eager to pad their slim majority.

The opening day featured dramatic allegations, including that Menendez “sold his office for a lifestyle he couldn’t afford,” and testy exchanges – with District Court Judge William H. Walls at one point telling Menendez’s lawyer to “shut up.”

Menendez is accused of accepting more than $700,000 in campaign-related cash and thousands of dollars in free hotel rooms and air travel from a longtime friend, Dr. Salomon Melgen. Melgen is charged with 11 counts.

During opening statements on Wednesday, prosecutors told the jury that as part of the bribery scheme, Menendez sent the doctor an email asking him to provide a $1,500-dollar-a-night Paris hotel room with a limestone bath and a view of the courtyard.

Federal prosecutors say “the evidence will show Menendez went to bat for Melgen at the highest levels of government because he gave him access to a lifestyle that reads like a travel brochure for the rich and famous.”

Prosecutors say Menendez, in exchange, helped the doctor with multimillion-dollar business deals and allegedly tried to get visas for the doctor’s foreign girlfriends.

Both Melgen, who has a previous conviction for Medicare fraud, and Menendez are on trial.

Aside from the implications for the balance of power in the Senate, the trial also poses complications for upcoming Senate votes.

The judge earlier rejected a motion from Menendez to change the trial schedule to allow him to attend crucial votes on issues such as health care. In a testy exchange Wednesday, Menendez’s attorney accused the judge of disparaging the defense in his written opinion. At one point, the judge told Menendez’s lawyer, “Shut up for a moment, if you don’t mind.”

Menendez says he will exercise his constitutional right to attend his trial but acknowledged the conflict he faces if Democrats need his vote in the Senate. “When a conflict exists, the clash between those constitutional rights, I will make a decision based upon the gravity of the situation and the difference that my vote would make,” he said.

The defense contends this is not about corruption or bribery but about a long-term friendship.

During his opening statement, Menendez’s lawyer told jurors “a single word can cut through a mountain of evidence” – that word being friendship.

The trial is expected to last six weeks.

David Lee Miller currently serves as a New York-based correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

Gobin said the restaurant employee cited their “no shoes, no shirt, no service” policy and claimed they would have refused any person wearing that type of shirt.

But Gobin told KIRO that she felt like she was singled out because her “belly was bigger and sticking out” and no one else would have had an issue.

“I was wearing a shirt, it had sleeves. I didn’t even have any cleavage showing,” she said.

Buzz Inn Steakhouse did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

The restaurant did send the following statement to KIRO:

“We sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding and will cover with our staff as to how not overly enforce a rule that is intended to make all guests feel comfortable. Our apologies for the misunderstanding. The server in question has been with our company and a great employee for almost 20 years and was trying to use her best judgement (sic) and by no means was trying to be demeaning to the guest again our sincere apology for misunderstanding.”

“Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star Kim Kardashian posted a nude photo of herself in a tree to her Instagram a day before it was reported that she and her husband, Kanye West, were expecting their third child.

Kardashian, 36, posted the black and white photo of herself wearing only boots, with a caption thanking Mert and Marcus, two fashion photographers, for featuring her in their new book.

KARDASHIAN ON TRUMP: ‘MY DAUGHTER WOULD BE BETTER’ AS PRESIDENT

Kardashian had stars photoshopped on her breasts to avoid complete nudity. The photo has received over 1.2 million likes.

On Wednesday, the surrogate mother Kardashian and West reportedly hired to carry their child confirmed that she was pregnant, according to People.

KIM KARDASHIAN FIRES BACK AT CRITICS OVER HER MAKEUP STRUGGLES

Kardashian suffers from placenta accreta which is when “the placenta attaches itself too deeply into the wall of the uterus,” according to the American Pregnancy Association. The condition could cause severe hemorrhaging.

The former journalist who commissioned the unverified anti-Trump dossier repeatedly refused to answer basic questions about his client – including how much his firm Fusion GPS was paid and whether he knew the sources behind the dossier’s sensational allegations – according to a source familiar with Glenn Simpson’s closed-door interview last month with Senate Judiciary Committee staffers.

The source, on the condition of anonymity, said Fusion co-founder Simpson and his lawyer Josh Levy provided thousands of records to the committee, but most were blank or press clippings.

The documents were described to Fox News as “useless” and “disrespectful” of congressional investigators.

The source said Simpson’s team also wanted an assurance the transcript would be kept “confidential,” and only made public after they reviewed it for accuracy and redactions were made. This appears to conflict with a statement from Simpson’s team to MSNBC on the evening of Aug. 23, after the questioning was complete, saying, “The committee can release the transcript, if it so chooses.”

A separate statement to Fox News on Aug. 22 from Fusion representative Tracy Schmaler – who ran the Obama Justice Department media office and was a special adviser to then-Attorney General Eric Holder – also claimed Simpson was transparent: “Mr. Simpson told Congress the truth and cleared the record on many matters of interest to congressional investigators. He also kept the identities of Fusion GPS’ clients confidential…Fusion GPS honors that commitment without exception – just as law firms and businesses do all over the country.”

Simpson’s legal and media team did not respond to Fox News’ questions about the meeting, or acknowledge receipt of the questions.

HOUSE PANEL SUBPOENAS FOR RECORDS ON ANTI-TRUMP DOSSIER

Complicating efforts to learn more about the dossier are lawsuits in both the U.S. and the U.K. concerning the allegations and how the material was released.

Newly public British court records state that material passed from former British spy Christopher Steele to Simpson used encrypted communications given the sensitivity. “Intelligence provided by the Defendants to Fusion was provided securely and where provided electronically it was provided in enciphered form,” the documents state.

In March, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to Simpson asking if Steele – who compiled the raw, unverified intelligence – was simultaneously paid by Simpson’s firm Fusion GPS for his work and the FBI for the investigation of then-candidate Trump and his associates.

Separately, the House Intelligence Committee has issued subpoenas to the FBI for records on the FBI’s relationship with Steele, Fox News is told.

Adding another layer of complexity to the dossier work is the recent allegation that Simpson’s Fusion GPS was at the same time allegedly supporting Russian efforts to repeal the Magnitsky Act, U.S. legislation that leveled sanctions on senior Russian officials blamed for the death of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.

Bill Browder, who testified publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, filed a complaint in July 2016 with the Justice Department against Simpson and Fusion GPS for its work with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskya, who famously met in June 2016 with Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign figures at Trump Tower. A Justice Department spokesman would not comment on the status of the Browder complaint, or whether an inquiry was opened.

The Senate interview with Simpson was not under oath because the witness appeared voluntarily, but the same rules apply.

In the Aug. 22 statement, Schmaler blasted the investigation as it pertains to Simpson as a “desperate attempt by the Trump campaign and its allies to smear Fusion GPS because of its reported connection to the Trump dossier.”

She noted that “a special counsel and three congressional committees are investigating ties between the Russian government and the Trump campaign” today in defending the firm’s work. “Fusion GPS is proud of the work it has conducted and stands by it,” she said.

She also said, “The Committee has a transcript of the interview. We are not permitted to have a copy. The Committee has the right to disclose the transcript, if it wishes to do so.”

Catherine Herridge is an award-winning Chief Intelligence correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC) based in Washington, D.C. She covers intelligence, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Herridge joined FNC in 1996 as a London-based correspondent.

Pamela K. Browne is Senior Executive Producer at the FOX News Channel (FNC) and is Director of Long-Form Series and Specials. Her journalism has been recognized with several awards. Browne first joined FOX in 1997 to launch the news magazine “Fox Files” and later, “War Stories.”

Two Russian taxi drivers were fired after a video of them forcing women to smear their faces with green antiseptic dye – allegedly as punishment for not paying – went viral.

A clip of the incident in the city of Khabarovsk was posted on YouTube. The dye, known as “zelyonka,” is difficult to remove but not usually harmful, according to the BBC.

Previously, the dye has been thrown at politicians opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The cab firm fired the drivers after a taxi drivers’ union demanded the dismissals, the BBC reports.

Police are still investigating the incident. The YouTube clip show one of the women trying to hide her green face, while her companion receives green dye to smear on her face.

It’s unclear whether the women didn’t have money to pay for their journey.

In March and April the same dye was thrown at Alexei Navalny, a leading critic of Putin; after the second attack, Navalny needed an operation on one of his eyes because the dye had been mixed with a caustic chemical. There have been a number of these attacks in Russia since 2008.

Lavin, a resident of New York City, has recently filed a lawsuit against the airline over a 2014 incident in which she suffered second- and third-degree burns on her buttocks after a flight attendant allegedly handed her a hot tea with an unsecure lid, reports the New York Post.

Furthermore, Lavin’s lawyer claims the airline “treated her like dirt” after she complained, forcing her to sit in the literal hot-seat for part of her flight from New York to Las Vegas.

FAMILY OF FIVE KICKED OFF JETBLUE FLIGHT AFTER CONFRONTATION WITH MANAGER

“I screamed at the top of my lungs. The pain was unreal,” Lavin told the Post. “Every time I tried to stand, they said, ‘We need you to go sit down.’ I felt like I was being treated like a child.”

According to Lavin’s lawsuit, a JetBlue flight attendant gave her the tea that was too hot for “human consumption,” and was “capable of causing disfiguring burns.” Lavin (below, right) says she could feel the “very hot” heat of the beverage through the cup, and placed it on the tray table.

A commotion at the back of the plane soon caused Lavin to whip around, knocking the tea off the table and into her seat.

“I was in excruciating pain and had tears running down my eyes and asked them to get me anything,” Lavin told the Post. She claims the flight attendants thought she was “insane” for complaining, but eventually offered aspirin and ice. It was only after she pulled down her pants to show the crew that they took her complaints seriously and offered to meet her at the gate with a stretcher.

COFFEE LEADS TO LONGER LIFE AND BETTER HEALTH, SAYS STUDY

Lavin’s lawyer, who also happens to be her uncle, claims Lavin didn’t even want to sue the airline, but only changed her mind after JetBlue “treated her like dirt.”

Lavin’s lawsuit isn’t nearly the first of its kind, either. In 2017, a woman from Florida was awarded over $100,000 after a Starbucks employee spilled coffee in her lap at a drive-thru. And in 1992, an elderly woman was initially awarded $3 million after suffering third-degree burns from a McDonald’s hot coffee.

Seattle Seahawks star Michael Bennett claimed Las Vegas police officers targeted and threatened him last month as he was walking to his hotel room following the boxing match between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.

The Super Bowl-winning defensive end tweeted a statement Wednesday recalling his run in with the police on Aug. 26, 2017.

Bennett said he heard a sound resembling gunshots as he was walking to his hotel room after the fight. Bennett said he and “several hundred people” fled the area before officers stopped him and “pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Bennett wrote.

Bennett wrote an officer demanded him to lay on the ground and not move or he would “blow my f—— head off.” Bennett claimed another officer “jammed his knee into my back making it difficult for me to breathe.” Bennett was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser.

Bennett said he asked the cops “what did I do?” but he was ignored until officers ran his information and confirmed his identity. The officers released him.

“The officers’ excessive use of force was unbearable,” the defensive end wrote. “I felt helpless as I lay there on the ground handcuffed facing the real-life threat of being killed. All I could think was ‘I’m going to die for no other reason than I am black and my skin color is somehow a threat.’”

Bennett said his “life flashed before his eyes” and he worried that he would not be able to see his wife or children again.

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Bennett, a friend and supporter of Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers who has made headlines for kneeling during the national anthem before NFL games, said in the statement: “This fact is unequivocally, without question why before every game, I sit during the national anthem—because equality doesn’t live in this country and no matter how much money you make, what job title you have, or how much you give, when you are seen as a “n—–,” you will be treated that way.”

Bennett concluded the “system failed me” and confirmed he hired a civil rights attorney to investigate the situation and was considering all legal options including a civil rights lawsuit for violating his constitutional rights.

Kaepernick retweeted Bennett’s statement and wrote: “This violation that happened against my Brother Michael Bennett is disgusting and unjust. I stand with Michael and I stand with the people.”

The Law Offices of John L. Burris, located in Oakland, Calif., released a statement confirming they were representing Bennett.